I volunteer as a firefighter to better serve and get to know my community. Since I was around 16 becoming a first responder was always something I knew I wanted to do, however my family was not very thrilled with that aspect of my life. My uncle got me into the fire service as soon as I turned 18, and it was the best thing that has ever happened in my life. It has changed me as a person for the better, and I am now able to assist more and more people than I ever have before. Living in such a small town as Cottontown, Tennessee, the need for volunteer firemen is quite large. We cover an area of around 92 square miles and most roads are backroads, with some being one-lane roads. We are an unincorporated community, which means we do not have a police department and we rely on the Sumner County Sheriff's Office to assist, and that usually means our volunteer department and the Sumner EMS workers are first on scene. Within our small town resides around 500 people, and around 65% are above the age of 55. This means that a sizable amount of calls that we get are for lift assist only, and that is one of the times when we are needed most. I think back to a certain call that we had one night, it was March 3rd in fact. We had a medical call for a gastrointestinal bleed. We had just come off of a bad storm and our EMS workers were swamped with plenty of other unrelated medical calls. This left the Volunteer department as one of the only ones responding, and after I checked en route, I realized I was the only one going. After arriving, the patient had stopped breathing and lost a pulse. For the longest 7 minutes of my life before EMS arrived, we fought to keep the man alive. After we got him loaded into the ambulance, I took his wife to the hospital so she could be there. She was partially blind and had no other family in the area. It was the best feeling to pass by that house the next week and see him outside cutting his grass and going along with his normal activities knowing that if it wasn't for volunteers, he most likely would not be here today. We have never gotten commission or payments for what we do, but that's the point of volunteering. Seeing the changes we can make in someone's life just by being there is enough for all of us, and I can speak for everyone else who has applied for this scholarship. From carrying someone from a burning building to an ambulance, to lifting someone off the ground that doesn't have the strength to get off the ground themselves, that is the payment, seeing joy in others. We, the young generation of the world, have every power to change the way we are going. Volunteering is just a start, and we are not done yet. Thank you for the opportunity to apply for this scholarship.

For the last five or six years of my life, it has always been business oriented. Deep down I had been hiding my passion to become a part of law enforcement. To get my foot in the door, I started volunteering at my local fire department. Coming from a town of around 500 people, everyone really does know each other, and we treat everyone in our town like family. Becoming a volunteer fireman is the first step of my long career serving the public, and we run around four-hundred separate calls in a given year. Within the walls of my house, becoming a police officer was always frowned upon. There has become a very saddening stigma surrounding that aspect of public service, and with one of my closer family members being a felon, it has led to a lot of tension within our close-knit bonds. One of my main goals is raising awareness on drunk driving. I look back at drunk driving calls that I have worked on in the past. Family and friends who have been taken from us all, just because of one bad decision. These can be life changing for both involved, whether from guilt or loss. With our younger generations coming into the first-responder workforce, I believe it is imperative that issues like this get solved to save one stranger, mother, or close friend from a bad decision. Interacting with others is a lost form of art in our recent times. We have left the age of talking to each other and began the age of electronics. I feel very strongly that working within public service, every word, action, and interaction matters. One chat can save a life, and it can save many more. My personal reason for going into this field is for the people. In 2019, I hit a low point in my life. I was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety, and felt as if I had no one to talk to. Other than therapy, I partially owe my recovery to an officer I met while looking for someone to talk to. His impact just from a conversation is one of the main reasons that I am here today, and that is what I aspire to do. My grandfather was a security guard for over fifty years, and we often talked about his times working. In April, while I was at college, my worst fear came true. I was awoken to a tone that he had passed away from cardiac arrest. This hit me hard as we were very close, though I have now turned this loss into motivation to serve my community better. Thank you for the opportunity to apply for this scholarship.

Starting a year ago my life changed for the better. Living in a very small and close knit town of only 500, we are always relying on others. Growing up I had always dreamed of being a police officer and serving my community the best I possibly could. Instead, I became a Volunteer Firefighter for Cottontown, Tennessee. We are an unincorporated area, which means some depend on the Sheriff's office to come out to help. With the volunteer department, we help it not be such a burden for our servicemen and women who are protecting and serving. Within the past year, I have ran over 100 calls ranging from fires, wrecks, medical, and assisting citizens. I often reminisce about certain situations that could have gone completely different if our department was not involved. One of which was a man who had suffered a severe injury to his hand while cutting with a power-saw. With our location being at least twenty-five minutes from the nearest station that houses an ambulance, our volunteer team had to act fast. Within 10 minutes, we had 5 volunteer firefighters on scene controlling the victims vitals and stopping bleeding. We were later told that he would have lost his hand if it was not for our department. In April, while I was at college, my worst fear came true. I was awoken by the tone that we had gotten a call to my grandfather's address for a cardiac arrest, and I was about an hour away. I scrambled and rushed to get home, but unfortunately, I was too late. This was my low point within my short volunteering career, and I had thought about hanging up my gear and calling it quits, but I had some very good guidance from family. It is what he wanted me to do, and he was proud of me for doing it. We volunteer for the people who need it most, and sometimes we see and get news that we can not handle on our own, just as many people do with car wrecks, fires, and an array of other calls. If not for us, and I am speaking for every volunteer or paid worker, there would not be the happy endings that are spoken. Just recently this past week my neighbor also passed away. He had turned 100 and our volunteer department had taken care of him whenever we needed. Every time that I spoke of my time at the fire department, and the future of me becoming a law enforcement officer, he would always speak about how proud he was that our younger generation still decides to make good changes to the world. As I move on in my life with more experiences, I see how I used to look at people completely different. Everyone has needed help at one point and we all will another time in our lives. Using this, I have decided to step up and volunteer at another fire department beside my zone. As I become a resident at my new college, I also plan on retaking my classes in another state and continuing my service to help others by joining another volunteer department while being a full-time student. We, the young generation of the world, have every power to change the way we are going. Volunteering is just a start, and we are not done yet. Thank you for the opportunity to apply for this scholarship.